Judge Says Redistricting would Cost $700k

Circuit Court Judge Thomas J. Seely Jr. outlined his opposition to a proposed judicial redistricting plan in a letter to state lawmakers. Seely wrote that the plan to pull three counties from the 1st Judicial District into its own region could cost the state more than $700,000 a year and destroy a system that does not need fixing. “It may well be that some districts need to be changed, but the 1st Judicial District has worked fine as it is for the 28 years that I have been a circuit judge and it is certainly going to cost the state quite a bit yearly to separate our district,” Seeley said in the letter, which he povided to the Johnson City Press.